Team Rockaway

Rockaway

Jakub Havrlant (*1984) is the founder, CEO and sole shareholder of the Rockaway Capital group, which he established in 2013 with the vision of building a global investment group from the Czech Republic.

As an angel investor, Havrlant previously supported start-ups in the United States (e.g. ProductBoard, in which an investment was undertaken in 2018 by the Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers group, which is behind the success of Amazon, Google and other global companies), Brazil (e.g. the fintech start-up Creditas, whose value had increased nearly tenfold by the time Rockaway exited the firm in 2017), and the Czech Republic (e.g. Brand Embassy, now a leading customer-care platform that collaborates with Apple, for example).

During the same period (2010-2013), Havrlant served as CEO for the Czech Republic, Slovakia and the Baltic states in the Allegro e-commerce group (part of Naspers, which also owns stock in Facebook), which he joined after selling his own real-estate start-up Bezrealitky.cz, the first start-up in our country to use Google Maps technology.

By the age of thirty, Havrlant had carried out a successful exit from the role of CEO in a multinational e-commerce group and established a portfolio of investments in global start-ups. Through Rockaway Capital, he is now striving to bring a broader meaning to the term “internet business” – simply building strong companies with the use of digital technologies. The firms under Rockaway’s administration achieved aggregate sales of more than EUR 2.5 billion in 2019 and employ more than five thousand people in 17 European countries.

Robert has been with Rockaway since 2016. In addition to seeking out new opportunities, he focuses primarily on the firms Euromedia Group and Heureka Shopping. He joined Rockaway in order to have a hand in defining the investment strategy, take part in setting the company’s direction and, primarily, to help build something that he can consider to be somewhat his own after spending more than twelve years in the world of corporate finance. Robert came to Rockaway from the investment company Mid Europa Partners, the biggest private equity firm in Central and Eastern Europe, where as the investment manager he played a role in major investments on the Czech market. In total, that involved ten transactions, including České radiokomunikace, T-Mobile, Walmark and Energy 21, whose value exceeded CZK 75 billion.

Jaroslaw joined the Rockaway team as an investment partner in 2015. He brought with him essential know-how, thanks to which he was able to finalise key transactions such as the acquisitions of Mall and Heureka. Today he is responsible for firms in the travel industry, with Invia Group at the top. Jaroslaw previously worked at the law firms White & Case in Prague and London, Cravath, Swaine and Moor LLP in New York and Linklaters in London. In addition to the Czech Republic, he is a qualified attorney in New York, England and Wales. His specialisations are cross-border transactions in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, with particular focus on Russia/CIS and the markets of Central and Eastern Europe.

Dušan joined the Rockaway team in 2014. As an investment partner, he focuses primarily on Mall Group, Heureka and certain start-ups. Even though his role is developing, thanks to his knowledge of start-up business and know-how in the area of transformation strategies for large portfolio units, he has long been seeking out new opportunities and cultivating existing projects in our portfolio. Prior to joining Rockaway, Dušan focused on consulting for international start-ups, where he was involved in company development and entry into international markets. Before that, he spent seven years at AVG Technologies, where he was part of the company’s management, which listed AVG on the New York Stock Exchange.

Honza joined Rockaway at the very beginning, in 2014. In his position as an investment partner, he focuses on business development, PR and HR, and is thus responsible for fulfilment of the long-term vision and management of strategic activities. Within the group, he served in the past as CEO of firms such as Koloniál/Košík and E-commerce Holding. Before joining Rockaway, Honza was the head of Allegro Group for the region of the Czech Republic and the Baltics, a position in which he replaced Jakub Havrlant. Prior to that, he developed the PayU payment gateway on the Czech and Slovak markets. Honza has also worked in the financial software segment in Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia.

As an investment partner, Andrea has long been focused on fintech at Rockaway. She joined the team at a time when the firm needed senior expertise and was arranging partnerships with major global companies. Andrea came to Rockaway from the Czech investment bank Roklen, which she cofounded in 2014 and where as CEO she managed the first Czech investment crowdfunding platform, Fundlift. Prior to that, she worked in London for the global investment banks JPMorgan and HSBC, where she participated in the management of M&A deals for clients in the private sector as well as for governments in the total volume of more than CZK 675 billion. In addition to that, she is also the chairwoman of the Czech Fintech Association (CEFTAS).

Viktor is an investment partner at Rockaway whose areas of expertise are start-ups and blockchain. He came to Rockaway from the consulting firm McKinsey & Company, having previously lived for eleven years in France, where he cofounded Innovatrics, a start-up focused on biometric identification, which won several awards and was ranked in the Deloitte Top 50 with 344% growth. Viktor has taught project management at a university in Paris, and the accelerators StartupYard and Wayra in Prague and The Spot in Slovakia know him as a mentor. He is also an investor in several technology start-ups and runs the club Le Valmont in Prague.

For many years Milan Vašina was CEO of T-Mobile Czech Republic and Slovak Telekom. During the course of his career, he has gained a reputation as a successful manager and leader in telecommunications and ICT, something also confirmed by his winning the Best Telecoms CEO, Eastern Europe Award. Milan’s experience includes implementation of business strategies, acquisitions of companies, their integration and changes in operating models. He was responsible for nearly 7000 employees and revenues of €2.0 billion. In the business community, he is well known for his ability to foster a culture of cooperation, personal responsibility, and authentic leadership. At Rockaway, his newly created role has two objectives: to help selected portfolio companies with their business strategy and to promote development of managerial talent across the group.

Martin holds a degree in business administration from SUNY Empire State College / University of New York in Prague. Following graduation, he spent three years in private equity with Genesis Capital and Hartenberg Capital, where he was directly responsible for closing acquisitions in both CEE and Western Europe and later served as director of the board for an Irish portfolio company. He served for over a year as the CFO of a technology start-up, overseeing its financial strategy and corporate governance and managing key operational aspects in San Francisco, Prague and Bangalore. He joined us to strengthen the team at Rockaway Ventures, where he will use his investment and entrepreneurial experience to assist with both the current portfolio and new investments.

Samuel joined our investment team after several projects, within which he played a role in, for example, the financing of Invia and the three-year strategic plan for Mall Group. He has experience in consulting, having most recently worked for the Boston Consulting Group, where he focused primarily on strategic projects in the consumer and retail sector for European and global clients. He had previously worked in M&A and restructuring at Deloitte in Vienna, where he focused on consulting in the area of companies’ sell-side processes and restructuring. Samuel studied at universities in Germany, India and Moscow.

David joined Rockaway Ventures as an investment associate. He is involved in the search for new opportunities and is responsible for the existing portfolio of start-ups. Before joining us, he was involved in the launch of a venture-capital investment firm in Sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to that, he worked for the consulting firm McKinsey, where he focused on telecommunications and the oil and gas industry. He studied at universities in Prague and Stockholm.

Max is part of the Rockaway Ventures team. As an investment analyst, he examines and evaluates investment opportunities, monitors the start-up market, creates financial models and assists with maintaining the current portfolio. He previously spent a year and a half in the Rockaway Academy programme, where he worked for Košík.cz in addition to start-ups. Prior to joining Rockaway, he worked for three years in the sales and controlling departments at the pharmaceutical company Sandoz. Max also served as president of the student consulting organisation Club 307, where he collaborated with companies such as the Boston Consulting Group, AT Kearney and Arthur D Little.

Adam was born in Cuba, where he lived for 6 years. He studied in Prague, Madrid and Edinburgh. After school, he joined McKinsey, where he worked for 5 years on strategic and transformational projects in Spain, South Africa, and globally – he started as a business analyst and progressed to the position of project manager.
Outside of the office, Adam is an avid mountain climber (having conquered Mt. McKinley/Denali, Eiger, Matterhorn or Mt Blanc) and likes action sports such as snowboarding, wakeboarding, surfing and mountain biking.

Jakub studied economics at Charles University in Prague and spent another two years at the Stockholm School of Economics in Sweden. He worked in the field of financial analysis at SME Direkt in Sweden and as a consultant at EY Česká republika, focusing primarily on the automotive industry. While still at school, he also dabbled in journalism, mainly at Czech Radio, and founded his own start-up, the auction platform Redukto. Even though Redukto did not conquer the market, Jakub’s passion for young firms and newly conceived projects stayed with him. In his free time, Jakub leads a group of scouts and manages a scouting centre. He has stepped across numerous fires, slept in a wet sleeping bag more than once and discovered that dry socks can be heavenly. Jakub was the first intern to attend Rockaway Academy and later received an offer to stay with us. Today you can find him at Košík, where he is responsible for strategic projects and the agenda focused on shareholders. He is mostly involved in BI and integration projects within Mall Group.

Jaromír serves simultaneously as the CFO and COO at Rockaway. He is thus in charge of finance, the legal department, IT and back-office operations. Jaromír worked for Jakub Havrlant prior to the founding of Rockaway and has thus been part of the team since the very beginning. He has roots in the world of finance – he has been focused on the the areas of tax consulting, financial management and controlling since 2009. He previously lectured on the issue of international taxation at the Technical University of Liberec.

Lenka was working for KPMG Czech Republic Audit for 12 years. As a Senior manager, she gained a lot of experience with managing audits for international as well as Czech groups. Recently, she took part in developing audit for start-ups, e-business companies, as well as public and non-profit sector. Lenka was also a member of the Committee for Account Reporting of the Chamber of Auditors of the Czech Republic and Technical Audit Group of KPMG. She was also working as KPMG regional trainer of soft skills for CEE region, and she was the warrantor and trainer of IFRS courses in KPMG Czech Republic. Lenka´s main task in Rockaway is managing the implementation of reporting process in the whole group in order to be able to present closing the books for 2016 to investors in compliance with IFSR. She is also in charge of assessing accounting impact of M&A and important transactions. She supervises the consistent application of accounting methods within the group, and she is a contact person for the auditor of the group.

At Rockaway, Dana is responsible for the financial reporting of key holding companies in the group. So she spends most of her time working on financial controlling, reporting, communicating with auditors and tax advisors and is also involved in cash flow planning for the entire group. Prior to that, she worked at KPMG, where she led teams in audits, especially of financial institutions.

Tereza has been working with us since the very beginning – she first came to work during the studies at the Faculty of Economics of the Technical University in Liberec, and then we worked together for a long time. Since the beginning of 2017, she has been with us in Prague and is engaged in reporting, controlling, and assists with auditing and consolidation. She is interested in monitoring company performance from a financial control point of view and is in charge of communicating with banks.

Bara came from KPMG, where she spent nearly six years. She led audit teams, engaged in auditing financial institutions (mainly banks and funds) and also provide consulting services. In Rockaway is in charge of financial controlling, reporting, consolidation and preparing communications with auditors and tax advisors.

Dominika is in charge of accounting documents, billing, payments, payroll, processing of various reports, communication with banks and offices, archiving, and a lot of other things we would not miss. She studied CZU in Prague.

Honza graduated from University of Economics in Prague. He has been working for more than 15 years in the field of finance, with the main focus on the creation of financial models and reports. In Rockaway, he helps with creating a reporting and consolidation system.

Petr Stoniš has been in the business of corporate law since 2007. In 2012 he established his own law firm focused on law for media, IT, e-commerce and startups.
Petr’s task is to create and maintain the legal structure of the whole Rockaway Group, its operations and the flow of deals.

Jakub has worked on a number of cross-border and local transactions, including the joint venture between PPF and Generali, which was realized in 2008; being valued in excess of 5.2 billion euro, it ranks among the biggest joint venture transactions realized in the CEE region. Amongst others, he has also represented Mid Europa Partners in its auction sale of České radiokomunikace, or the founders of AVAST Software in the sale of a minority stake in AVAST to Summit Partners. Jakub graduated from Macquarie University in Sydney and is admitted, among others, to practice law in England and Wales. After returning from Australia to the Czech Republic in 2008, Jakub worked for five years as an associate in White & Case Prague’s specialized M&A team. In 2014, he started working as a consultant at BBH, providing legal services to its clientele. In September 2016, he decided to join Jakub Havrlant’s Rockaway.

Katka studied at the Faculty of Law, Charles University. During her studies she did a one-year internship at the University of Hamburg. Before coming to Rockaway, she worked for the Prague branch of an international law firm. In Rockaway Katka is responsible for legal support of the holding as well as for individual companies of the group. She participates in transactions carried out by the group (and she is always on the phone).

After studying law in the UK, Germany and China, Jakub lived for a time in the United States before deciding to practice his profession in the Czech Republic. Prior to joining the legal team at Rockaway, Jakub worked as an associate at the Prague branch of an international German law firm, where he focused on M&A, IP and data protection law as well as internal investigations. One of the legal fields he is most interested in professionally is the emerging relationship between law and technology.

At Rockaway, Týna focuses on the operational issues of holding companies, assists with the preparation of audits and participates in the group’s transactions. She came to the team from a small law firm focusing primarily on the area of M&A and also gained extensive experience over the course of three years at the investment firm Hartenberg Capital. Kristýna is currently studying at the Law Faculty of Charles University.

Michaela Papežová came to Rockaway from Allegro Group CZ where she worked as the Public Relations Manager. She was responsible for the media image of individual brands in the portfolio, internal communication, management of relations with media and event management. Michaela deals with media relations and is in charge of communication strategies for the group.

Adam graduated from FMK TBU. His expertise is in events, copywriting and social media. As a freelance marketer he worked with a number of agencies and large companies such as Czech Television, Gambrinus, Captain Morgan. He is an organizer of TEDxZlín and an active musician. In Rockaway he is responsible for the content of our websites.

Hanka is responsible for HR within Rockaway’s internal team and also assists the companies in our portfolio. Her vision is to bring people together and share the best experience in the areas of corporate culture and employer branding. She has extensive experience from her previous employment – her name has been connected with Ambiente for ten years and she spent a significant part of her professional life at AmRest, where she advanced to the position of HR director and was responsible for the KFC and Starbucks brands. In addition to that, she has long worked as a freelancer and collaborates with companies such as Sklizeno, Orbit, Symbio, Kaspen, T-mobile and Air Bank. She also gained experience as an EU human-resources expert at the government organisation AZPROMO in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Eva has been a part of Rockaway since its very beginning – as a VSB graduate (Technical University of Ostrava) she was one of our first employees. She started as an assistant and then moved up to finance. In June 2015 she was given the chance to start our HR 2.0 department, and since then she has been helping match people with the jobs that fit them best.

Kristen received her MBA degree from Yale University and bachelor’s degree from Tsinghua University. Before joining Rockaway, she worked at CITIC Asset Management Company, one of China’s top financial conglomerate, and established investment funds with different areas of focus. Today, she is helping us with global expansion, primarily in the field of business collaboration with China.

Peter cares about our technology so that it works and that it was in order. He worked for over 20 years in IT. The last 15 years he spent in Allianz, so it has a lot of experience and we can count on him. “I believe that the team can remain prosperous and stable only if all pull together.”